Has anyone ever been able to tally how many times she played this piece over the years? It must be in the hundreds of performances. I was surprised this goes back to 1969. Isn’t that just after when she won the Chopin competition? My teacher, Eugene List, was a jury member that year and he told me years later there was no debate about first prize. They haggled over the other prizes. Thanks for putting this together. Very interesting.
Argerich won the Chopin competition in 1965. And there is some video that exists from that time. And I agree…..she’s probably played this piece hundreds of times. Maybe thousands of times. But as we all know, she is the queen and just gets better with age. Play on Martha……….forever!
@@drrabner47 when I played this piece, I experimented with the solution to the glissando like passage the way she did it- with hands crossing. I couldn’t make it work. Then I went back and tried working out his original idea with each finger playing two notes between the cracks. It worked!! You just have to have big enough hands. I have only played it that way since and it’s actually become easy for me. It really sounds like a glissando and it’s forceful.
Argerich single-handedly brought Prok 3 back to popular repertoire territory. After its debut in 1913, Prok 3 was played sparingly until Argerich famously recorded the work in 1967 with Claudio Abbado for Deutsche Grammophon.
@@da96103 interesting. I have never known a time when it wasn’t one of the most popular concertos, so I took it for granted. Another of my teachers, Abbey Simon, was offered the American premiere of the Second Prokofiev Concerto. After waiting weeks to get the score from Europe, he decided it wasn’t a good piece for him, and it was given by his classmate Jorge Bolet. It’s hard to imagine that my own teacher could have premiered such a standard concerto. My other teacher, Eugene List, gave the American premiere of Shostakovich 1 when he was 16. I’ve been lucky to work two such legends. Both are gone now. Martha Argerich studied briefly with Abbey Simon, but they had some kind of falling out. He lived in Geneva at that time.
@@khangmapianoits mainly the fact that’s a bunch of comparisons of some pianist playing some piano piece most people won’t have heard of. Like I couldn’t think of many people (outside of myself) who’d be interested in this, even those who like classical music
@@thibomeurkens2296yeahh indeed I have a few friends who like classical music, but not as me who actually lives for it. And there wouldn't like this content. While I think this is amazing
Wazzup fellow degenerates 🎉 so I found Martha’s arpeggio fingering from someone who asked her after a concert a while ago, I figure if you’re here you’d wanna know so we can all go obsess and hate ourselves together lmao (LH RH LH RH) 5-32-1 12-34 43-21 12-34-5 Same fingering on the way down. From what I gather she’s using the same approach she did for the double note arpeggios in Jeux d’eau/Scarbo with preemptively depressed keys and releasing after every note(s) (think the loose wrist articulation with super fast/repeated octaves). I suppose the Taubman term would be using double rotations for every note(s). The sound she achieves in these passages is unreal, in closeups it looks like she’s barely touching the keys. Slay.
I love how each performance is different. Each time I hear something new in every performance. I love how she picked up the tempo in the middle, but in 2020 it was slower, and she emphasized more on the raw emotional side of the work. You could feel the pain everyone was going through in 2020. 2003 the orchestra seemed to be pulling her back some. The orchestra seemed to drag a little in spots. I love how the orchestra starts a little slower, taking the "Allegro" like a Moderato Allegro. Then Martha comes in, and the race is on. She is one of my FAVORITE pianists of all time!!!!!
I agree with the above comment. Previn in 1977, Pletnev in 2007, and Ntaca I 2018. But it is not Argerich’s fault. It is the orchestra with whom she is playing. They can’t keep up with her. And the conductor who maybe doesn’t know the piece well enough to conduct it. She is a Force and will do it her way…..always. Her playing is ‘other worldly’. She is the best!
It occurs to me after listening to this a few times that... I have no frinking idea what I'm talking about when it comes to piano performances. I have no idea what makes for a good performance or a bad one - pretty much everything I respond to in stuff like this has to do with the audio quality and especially the mix.
Quella del 1995 con Rostropovic mi sembra la più interessante; mirabile unione tra tecnica e adesioni alla partitura. Ma sono TUTTE esecuzioni straordinarie, e anche le esecuzioni anni 2020 di una pianista quasi ottantenne sono qualcosa di straordinario e quasi irripetibile. Assolutamente prodigiose.
When her grey hair shows up, 2007, she hits the groove and the 2020, IMHO, is very different from ‘95 in a good way. Surprised she was playing a Yamaha in 2003. She’s the BEST!
She is eternally the empress of this concerto. Often times she is paired with terrible conductors or orchestras in this - and the coda is frustrating because she is not matched in tempo and energy. There is a performance from 2022 I did not include because it is so infuriating...she is supreme but the orchestra is a full beat behind her!
@@ArgerichStan Ugh, I know exactly which one you’re talking about and I totally agree. It was infuriating. She was in great form and in great health. 80 years old and still going strong! And what a great way to celebrate that: age hasn’t slowed her down a bit and the legend still has it after all those years. Beyond just the great performance, what an awesome benchmark statement it would’ve been. And it was great…but the orchestra was just not up to par on the coda or some of the more challenging parts. I don’t know if they’d done well during rehearsal and just dropped the ball during the performance or what, but it was so hard to watch. I’m not sure what they were expecting. If you work with Martha Argerich, you have to ready.
I do not think the passion from the players has changed. I think the focus has changed. If you know of Martha, then you know . Feel out the time and place and react accordingly. See, taste and smell the surroudnings. Never lie also helps. :)
Ah, they're all cosmically great. Martha's problem is that she outplays every orchestra - she's on a whole different planetary level. Technically, obviously - look how she handled Pletnev's prank! But in an understanding of just how explosive this coda is, it should drive you to madness, hearing it (in a good way), and no orchestra can hang with her.
Only in her 2020 performance did she manage the "right" tempo. The earlier ones (especially the first) were unquestionably too fast, thereby lessening the effectiveness of this 'motoric' style of writing which occurs so often in Prokofiev's music. Incidentally, and unrelated to her performances, why does she always, at the finish, quickly rush over to the podium to do the kissing and hugging with the conductor, when her first recognition should be to the audience? Almost every pianist does this - - immediately turning his or her back to the audience and shaking hands with the concert-master and his assistant before "engaging" with the director, and FINALLY, almost as an afterthought, "oh yeah, I just about forgot: there's an audience out there!"
It’s part of what is interesting about searching the internet for recordings - it makes one appreciate high quality recording technology and also production people who place mics correctly and camera people who know where to film!
Loved her facial expression just after the 1977 performance. Like she was thinking: "How did that just happen?". Holy mittens.
The silence after the 2020 performance is devastating.
C'est vrai ! Heureusement le public est aujourd'hui revenu dans les salles 😊.
Pandemic changed everything forever
To be honest, it doesn't even look like Martha even touched the keys!🤣🤣She's on a whole other level!
Her temperament is so perfect for the likes of Schumann and Prokofiev.
and ravel
Has anyone ever been able to tally how many times she played this piece over the years? It must be in the hundreds of performances. I was surprised this goes back to 1969. Isn’t that just after when she won the Chopin competition? My teacher, Eugene List, was a jury member that year and he told me years later there was no debate about first prize. They haggled over the other prizes. Thanks for putting this together. Very interesting.
Argerich won the Chopin competition in 1965. And there is some video that exists from that time. And I agree…..she’s probably played this piece hundreds of times. Maybe thousands of times. But as we all know, she is the queen and just gets better with age. Play on Martha……….forever!
@@drrabner47 I totally agree. She does get better and she seems even more technically dazzling now.
@@drrabner47 when I played this piece, I experimented with the solution to the glissando like passage the way she did it- with hands crossing. I couldn’t make it work. Then I went back and tried working out his original idea with each finger playing two notes between the cracks. It worked!! You just have to have big enough hands. I have only played it that way since and it’s actually become easy for me. It really sounds like a glissando and it’s forceful.
Argerich single-handedly brought Prok 3 back to popular repertoire territory. After its debut in 1913, Prok 3 was played sparingly until Argerich famously recorded the work in 1967 with Claudio Abbado for Deutsche Grammophon.
@@da96103 interesting. I have never known a time when it wasn’t one of the most popular concertos, so I took it for granted. Another of my teachers, Abbey Simon, was offered the American premiere of the Second Prokofiev Concerto. After waiting weeks to get the score from Europe, he decided it wasn’t a good piece for him, and it was given by his classmate Jorge Bolet. It’s hard to imagine that my own teacher could have premiered such a standard concerto. My other teacher, Eugene List, gave the American premiere of Shostakovich 1 when he was 16. I’ve been lucky to work two such legends. Both are gone now. Martha Argerich studied briefly with Abbey Simon, but they had some kind of falling out. He lived in Geneva at that time.
I love your channel, this is the exact kind of niche nerdy piano stuff I wanna see lmao
1977 is my all time favourite mostly because it's the video on youtube that really got me into piano lol
How is Prok 3 niche lol
@@khangmapiano tf u mean go up to any random person and they aren't gonna know who tf prokofiev is
@@khangmapianoits mainly the fact that’s a bunch of comparisons of some pianist playing some piano piece most people won’t have heard of. Like I couldn’t think of many people (outside of myself) who’d be interested in this, even those who like classical music
@@thibomeurkens2296yeahh indeed I have a few friends who like classical music, but not as me who actually lives for it. And there wouldn't like this content. While I think this is amazing
Wazzup fellow degenerates 🎉 so I found Martha’s arpeggio fingering from someone who asked her after a concert a while ago, I figure if you’re here you’d wanna know so we can all go obsess and hate ourselves together lmao
(LH RH LH RH)
5-32-1 12-34 43-21 12-34-5
Same fingering on the way down. From what I gather she’s using the same approach she did for the double note arpeggios in Jeux d’eau/Scarbo with preemptively depressed keys and releasing after every note(s) (think the loose wrist articulation with super fast/repeated octaves). I suppose the Taubman term would be using double rotations for every note(s). The sound she achieves in these passages is unreal, in closeups it looks like she’s barely touching the keys. Slay.
This is a lifesaver.
Honestly doing the lords work
I love how each performance is different.
Each time I hear something new in every performance.
I love how she picked up the tempo in the middle, but in 2020 it was slower, and she emphasized more on the raw emotional side of the work. You could feel the pain everyone was going through in 2020.
2003 the orchestra seemed to be pulling her back some. The orchestra seemed to drag a little in spots.
I love how the orchestra starts a little slower, taking the "Allegro" like a Moderato Allegro. Then Martha comes in, and the race is on.
She is one of my FAVORITE pianists of all time!!!!!
I agree with the above comment. Previn in 1977, Pletnev in 2007, and Ntaca I 2018. But it is not Argerich’s fault. It is the orchestra with whom she is playing. They can’t keep up with her. And the conductor who maybe doesn’t know the piece well enough to conduct it. She is a Force and will do it her way…..always. Her playing is ‘other worldly’. She is the best!
She’s an absolute force of nature!
She’s increadible, always better in my opinion!! 👏👏👏👏👏
The 2018 is my favorite only because it's the first video I saw her perform this.
Thank you for this magnificent posting!!!!
She owns the concerto!
It just gets better
It occurs to me after listening to this a few times that... I have no frinking idea what I'm talking about when it comes to piano performances. I have no idea what makes for a good performance or a bad one - pretty much everything I respond to in stuff like this has to do with the audio quality and especially the mix.
After the 2008 version came one of her best renditions of Scarlatti sonata k141 i've ever seen on TH-cam
1977!!!
They're all WOW to me, but 2001 has the most interesting voicing and quirky charm IMO
When you can find 10 versions of Argerich's Prok 3.
Quella del 1995 con Rostropovic mi sembra la più interessante; mirabile unione tra tecnica e adesioni alla partitura. Ma sono TUTTE esecuzioni straordinarie, e anche le esecuzioni anni 2020 di una pianista quasi ottantenne sono qualcosa di straordinario e quasi irripetibile. Assolutamente prodigiose.
thank you for compiling this!
When her grey hair shows up, 2007, she hits the groove and the 2020, IMHO, is very different from ‘95 in a good way. Surprised she was playing a Yamaha in 2003. She’s the BEST!
In my opinion, the best performances are from 1995 and 2001
1977 and 2007 the best.....for me....2018 too!!!
She is eternally the empress of this concerto. Often times she is paired with terrible conductors or orchestras in this - and the coda is frustrating because she is not matched in tempo and energy. There is a performance from 2022 I did not include because it is so infuriating...she is supreme but the orchestra is a full beat behind her!
@@ArgerichStan Ugh, I know exactly which one you’re talking about and I totally agree. It was infuriating. She was in great form and in great health. 80 years old and still going strong! And what a great way to celebrate that: age hasn’t slowed her down a bit and the legend still has it after all those years. Beyond just the great performance, what an awesome benchmark statement it would’ve been. And it was great…but the orchestra was just not up to par on the coda or some of the more challenging parts. I don’t know if they’d done well during rehearsal and just dropped the ball during the performance or what, but it was so hard to watch. I’m not sure what they were expecting. If you work with Martha Argerich, you have to ready.
Goddess ❤
I do not think the passion from the players has changed. I think the focus has changed.
If you know of Martha, then you know .
Feel out the time and place and react accordingly.
See, taste and smell the surroudnings.
Never lie also helps.
:)
1969 sounds the most interesting me
2018 the best! Wow 😢
was the audio delayed in 2003 or was she off, which isnt like her
😍😍😍😍😍
Inimitable MA
it would be helpful if you made chapters in the video
I don't have enough subscribers for chapters to be enabled but I've included timestamps in the description!
Ah, they're all cosmically great. Martha's problem is that she outplays every orchestra - she's on a whole different planetary level. Technically, obviously - look how she handled Pletnev's prank! But in an understanding of just how explosive this coda is, it should drive you to madness, hearing it (in a good way), and no orchestra can hang with her.
Hear me out : Terence Judd
Only in her 2020 performance did she manage the "right" tempo. The earlier ones (especially the first) were unquestionably too fast, thereby lessening the effectiveness of this 'motoric' style of writing which occurs so often in Prokofiev's music. Incidentally, and unrelated to her performances, why does she always, at the finish, quickly rush over to the podium to do the kissing and hugging with the conductor, when her first recognition should be to the audience? Almost every pianist does this - - immediately turning his or her back to the audience and shaking hands with the concert-master and his assistant before "engaging" with the director, and FINALLY, almost as an afterthought, "oh yeah, I just about forgot: there's an audience out there!"
Imbecile
Whoever recorded the two 90’s performance did such a horrible job with the placement of the mics.
It’s part of what is interesting about searching the internet for recordings - it makes one appreciate high quality recording technology and also production people who place mics correctly and camera people who know where to film!
Not too far from Ashkenazy’s level.